US helicopters arrive in Haiti but safe landing sites are scarce

A Haitian policeman arrests looters in a street of Port-au-Prince, January 15, 2010. US military leaders said they would pour 10,000 troops in earthquake-battered Haiti in the coming days, warning that it was urgent to bring water and food to prevent deaths and unrest.

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BRENDAN TREMBATH: Fellow ABC correspondent Lisa Millar is on the flight deck of the USS Carl Vinson which is just off the coast of Haiti.

I asked her what she was seeing.

LISA MILLAR: Well there's a lot of activity that you can probably hear in the background Brendan. They have been, they are the only fire ship currently in the area. Others are on their way. They have already begun airlifting water in Haiti.

But the Rear Admiral Ted Branch, the commander of this ship, has already found some pretty big problems. He sent some observers out to take photographs of the terrain and he's very worried at how hilly everything is, how much debris there is and what kind of damage might be done to his helicopters if they're trying to provide some of those remoter areas where people haven't been able to get into yet.

I mean there's been criticism and suggestions that the military have moved too slowly on this but Rear Admiral Ted Branch said he brought his ship down from Virginia, Norfolk Virginia which is quite some distance at a rate of 32 knots. It's a nuclear powered ship and they didn't stop. And excusing the Australian slang they were flooring it and they got here as quickly as possible.

Look he's got observers, he's having meetings this afternoon, they're going to reassess the situation. But certainly he called it daunting.

BRENDAN TREMBATH: That must be hugely frustrating for the people onboard.

LISA MILLER: Well it is. And they've got 5,000 people onboard here. In fact I flew in on a Black Hawk from Guantanamo Bay with a dozen Navy personnel who were joining the ship for the first time to do what they could.

By Monday they're hoping to have 8,000 military personnel in the area off Haiti.

But the logistics are just quite extraordinary, I mean you know this is a massive humanitarian relief plan that is needed here and at the moment people are looking at the country and just still wondering where to start. When you think it's been several days already that is frustrating for everyone.

BRENDAN TREMBATH: Correspondent Lisa Millar on a ship off the coast of Haiti.